For the
culturally obtuse: One of the biggest Japanese manga hits
of all time has been Akira Toriyama's "Dragon Ball".
Originally running in Shonen Jump magazine from 1984 to 1995,
Toriyama's tales boosted the circulation of that weekly periodical
to stunning heights and launched the successful anime. "Dragon
Ball" brings us the early, more comical years of Goku
and his friends; their later, more serious action-adventures
comprise the "Dragonball Z" manga and anime, and
the anime-only "Dragonball GT".
The nice folks at the graphic novel division of Viz produce
translated "Dragon Ball" manga for America, and
they continue their excellent work here. One great feature
with these volumes is that Viz has retained the original right-to-left
reading order of the Japanese editions. It's fun to make the
effort to actually read the tale in the opposite direction
from what we're taught in America. It's a nice window into
another culture.
The Story
So Far: Toriyama's narrative in this installment more or less
comes to us in three parts. The first third of Volume 2 picks
up with Goku, Bulma and Oolong trying to help the Ox King
solve the quandary of putting out the fire at Frying Pan Mountain.
Many plot seeds are planted here for future payoff, including
the Ox King offering his daughter Chi-Chi's hand in marriage
to Goku. (Of course, the ultra-naïve Goku has no idea
what this means at this point). Eventually, the help of the
venerable Kame-Sen'nin (Master Roshi) is needed, and we get
our first look at the mighty Kamehameha technique.
This section
has some enormously fun character bits. Kame-Sen'nin promising
to help only if can see Bulma's breasts has an incredibly
funny pay-off. The scenes with young Chi-Chi and Goku are
cute and hold tons of meaning in the face of their later relationship.
The middle
section deals with a leg of the journey where our heroes tangle
with the Rabbit Mob. Goku's opponent, the Carrot Master, is
so ridiculous that he's a riot. A nice little tie-in to Japanese
folklore helps demonstrate Toriyama's gift for melding disparate
elements into his overall plot.
Finally,
the volume wraps up with an extended sequence pitting Goku,
Bulma, Yamcha and the rest against the hilariously named Reich
Pilaf. Pilaf wants the Dragon Balls so that he can rule the
world, as opposed to the more weighty concerns of Bulma (who
wants to wish for a boyfriend) and Yamcha (who wants to not
be afraid of women). Some questions about Goku's tail are
answered, and more are raised. Some extremely funny bits play
out here, especially Oolong's contribution to the final conflict.
Overall,
I found the second volume of "Dragon Ball" to be
great fun. Toriyama's art can move from fluid to funny to
beautiful in the space of a single page. His character insights
can be downright touching, couched of course in a significant
amount of humor (for example, a self-referential bit to his
"Dr. Slump" character comes off as hilarious in
the face of the situation surrounding it). It's worthy of
note that the humor is probably more sophisticated in the
manga than it comes off in the American TV form; that's almost
assuredly why Viz began labeling the books as suggested for
ages 13 and up with Volume 4.
"Dragon
Ball" continues to enchant and entertain millions. Reading
the series, you get the feeling that it can truly jump anywhere
at any moment. It's long-standing popularity is a testament
to the creativity of Toriyama, and a firm notch in the belt
of Viz.
Troy
Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. His
name is not derived from food or underwear of any kind. Email
him at psikotyk@aol.com
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